Don't Turn Me
by blossomstar16
Summary: It isn't easy, this life. You're expected to grapple with morals, and ethics. The trick is, don't let the vampires get you before you can save them. re-edited, FINISHED
1. Chapter 1

Now it's possible you won't believe a word I say. I'm not the type to make up stories though, and I'm not one to lie to people's faces, at least not about something this serious.

When I was seven years old, my entire family was killed by vampires. My mother, my father, and my two sisters were sucked dry from their throats by an entire horde of them, and they were far from the debonair, good looking ones you read about in trashy romance novels.

They weren't blood-sucking monsters either.

They were some horrible, monstrous mix that both repulsed and attracted me. Their beauty was overwhelming, and their violent way of moving and speaking were like and unspoken threat.

They had been savage, but their movements were so precise and coolly calculated that I didn't know what to do. I was only seven, and had been previously sleeping, my younger sisters curled against my sides.

I remember sounds, crashing, yelling and the horrible slurping sounds as my mother was drained outside my bedroom door. My father was screaming, a hysteric and horrible sound that made me freeze, even as cold hands pried my sleeping siblings off the bed.

They made no noise, but their eyes were both vicious with hunger, and sad, as if they hated doing this, but had to anyway.

I somehow escaped their noticed and slipped off the bed, and ran into the hall. My mother's body, her red hair dark and matted with blood almost made me freeze before my father's tortured screams echoing from the kitchen goaded me towards the door. I needed to escape, to run and never stop.

I made it to the street as a car pulled up. People in black, people with guns running, hurrying. The vampires were all either killed or rounded up and subdued. I stood and watched them load the prisoners up as a man in black placed a blanket around my shoulders. The vampire I focused on was blond and had one electric blue eye and another one so deformed I couldn't describe it. He grinned at me, a mocking twisted version of a smile, and some of my sister Kana's blood slipped down his chin.

All at once, my stomach rebelled; I started crying, and passed out when nothing but air came from my stomach.

--

I awoke sometime later in a room I was unfamiliar with. The walls were painted a green similar to my father's eyes, a minty jade green like new leaves and wet grass. The carpet was thick, soft, and white. My mind casually noted I was wearing someone else's clothes. The door opened just as I started questioning my whereabouts.

She had gold hair, and gold eyes with flecks of amber. Her hair was tied into two pig-tails in the middle of her head. Her face was both beautiful and intimidating, a frown seemingly plastered unto it.

"You are Sakura Haruno, age seven, daughter of Rinko and Taro Haruno, correct?" she asked me, her tones clipped and almost harsh. I could only nod in reply.

"Good. Your mother, father, and sisters were killed by an entire horde last night, because your father is, was, a scientist. He was working on a cure for the disease that causes vampires, to, well, exist."

I nodded again.

"It's highly contagious, but, as of yet, can only be passed by the blood. Those infected crave iron and protein and become overly sensitive to light and sun. Even though it's a terrible disease, certain members of the infected community feel that it isn't wrong to kill people for their own survival, and subsequently killed your father. Do you understand? I know you've been through a lot, but I think you'll be a good agent one day."

I nodded a third, and final, time. I understood that vampires killed my father because they were sick and didn't want to be helped, and that I was expected to become part of the people who tried to avenge him.

I looked back up at her, and smiled. From the look of pity and half-horror that momentarily appeared on her face, it must have been a pretty messed up smile, but, that's all I was back then.

I was pretty fucking messed up.

--

Five Years Later

--

"Sakura." Tsunade called from the doorway, this was my third patient today, and she was afraid for the men and women out in the field today, but she didn't want anyone to know. I know her almost as well as I know myself. I smiled at her to reassure, and finished bandaging a woman's slashed arm. I wrote down a few notes on my chart, and headed for the hallway.

The past five years have been a blur of training and studies. I've made a few friends, or a semblance of friends, and even been on a few practice missions. My friends Naruto and Ino, both blonde and obnoxious, were with me, and they were so loud I couldn't hear myself think, let alone hear where our target (really a senior member of ANBU in disguise) coming up in front of us. For the sake of the mission, I knocked them both unconscious and took care of the target myself, both incapacitating and "healing" the agent in under five minutes, leaving me bruised, with a broken wrist, and a very proud, and very angry Tsunade.

She had been taking care of me ever since the murders, and with help from my father's research, had developed the "cure". It caused the virus to become a harmless case of the flu, or at least a semblance of it, if it came in contact with a normal human. It could be used as a defense for up to two months, and was used frequently before missions, and after applied to an infected subject, it could make them completely harmless over the period of a month.

Their symptoms would slowly decrease, and the last to go was sensitivity to the sun. It was the miracle cure of the world, and it was all thanks to Tsunade and my dad.

I walked past her, a grin plastered on my face. It was the smile I used around patients, the fake, overly happy one. I passed an attending on the other end of the hallway, and paused by a window overlooking a courtyard. The smile slid from my face in an instant. I sighed and leaned into the cool glass. My head ached. I was only twelve damn it. I wanted to play with dolls and teach Kana and Suzuki how to climb trees. Images of days with my family slid into my head, making me dizzy with how happy I used to be.

I wanted a lot of things, but for me, wanting did nothing. We were all going to die anyway. The least I could do was make it a little better for all of the little sisters in the world. So the grin went back on, and my heart sunk down farther into me.

--

I tended to keep to myself. After the whole knocking them out on the mission thing, Naruto and Ino wouldn't talk to me for months. I didn't actively try to seek them out, I was too busy studying or practicing. But I heard later from my friend Tenten, who liked weapons even more than me, they were very mad and studiously avoiding me. I didn't really care either way. I didn't like being close to people.

Sure, I was probably afraid of them dying if I became too attached, my whole family had been murdered, but in my line of work, people died everyday. Anko from the berserker squad was killed last week when she and her teammates were taken by surprise by a rouge horde. My first trainer, Iruka had been dead for three years, after an assassination gone wrong.

But I was twelve, and heading towards adulthood. So I sucked it up and reached out to people. Naruto and Ino became my new family. Ino and I could share everything, even her strange obsession with boys, whom I only regarded with a mixture of slight interest and obvious dismissal of their awkward gangly movements.

However, when my first period came, I felt horribly lonely. I had no mother to tell me about the strange changes in my body, from the funny hairs everywhere to the strange changes in height. I suddenly felt huge and awkward, and my once unnoticeable temperaments were suddenly broadcast to everyone. I felt unusually unbalanced and started seeing my once annoying and childish year-mates as guys, not as the weird little boys I beat in target practice everyday.

I'm not going to lie; I'm one of the best. I can shoot the farthest, run the fastest, hit the hardest and kill without batting an eye in the simulation room. I was getting cocky perhaps; I think I needed more of a challenge.

So Tsunade sent me on my first real mission, with a nice guy named Kiba and a quiet one named Shino.

They were a couple months older than me, and had already been on several missions of the same rank. We basically had to administer the cure to a recently infected human, and try to stop the symptoms from showing.

The mission went badly though. The patient had progressed farther into the infection than originally thought. Kiba was attacked and lost a finger when it was torn form his hand. I don't think I'll ever forget his scream. In a panic, I blanked out and went on auto-pilot. Shino informed me later that he thought I had gone mad, because I had started stabbing the vampire with the bayonet on the end of my rifle. I had been screaming, this horrible look of sick pleasure on my face. Shino didn't talk to me again, not for a full year. I had gone into counseling, but I didn't remember anything but Kiba's awful screams echoing in my head.

At that moment, he had sounded just like my father as he died. Had his finger been ripped off too? Or had it been something much, much worse?


	2. Chapter 2

Life is hard; I'm not going to lie.

There is always some big hurdle coming your way, even if you just passed the last one. My first hurdle was trying to get over my family's death. I tripped, and fell.

--

"Sakura-chan!" I looked up in time to see a kunai about to bury itself in my skull. I grabbed it between two fingers and threw it back into the darkened room as soon as I heard movement.

We were in a special training room for night missions. Night missions were a lot more difficult, and tended to focus on eliminating victims of the virus from spreading it to new carriers.

Basically, they were assassination missions. But, since we're a "civilized" organization, we try to call it something else. It wouldn't be good if our benefactors knew that we killed vampires, not patients for the benefit of mankind as a whole.

Naruto was still prowling in the dark, and was very clumsy. I could hear every sound he made in the empty, echoing space around us. I could barely make out my face in front of my hand, yet there was just enough light to see the flash of metal before it lodged into my arm.

Another kunai.

Naruto was getting impatient to try the same trick twice.

I kneeled down on the floor, not making any sound. He was trying to make me scream, but in his position, I would have done the same thing. We all tend to get a little sadistic after awhile.

It comes from the whole killing people for a living thing.

Grimly, I pulled it out of my arm and threw it into a wall, hoping to distract Naruto as I spotted him. I dived in for the kill.

--

"Geez Naruto, you need to get less clumsy. I could hear every sound you made in that room." He pouted as I wrapped my bare, bleeding arm in gauze.

"Come on Sakura, with that big empty room, you could've heard a pin drop. Especially you. You have the best senses of anyone in our age group. Hey, have you heard we're getting a transfer?"

I looked up, surprised. Transfers were about as common as dancing pink bunnies.

"Who?"

"Sasuke Uchiha."

"Another boy?" I pouted.

There weren't nearly enough women on base. Half of them were off duty for marrying their co-workers and getting pregnant. Another fourth were only here to be secretaries and organize who goes on what mission. The rest were either way older than me, and there-for not available for friendship, or still in the classes. There were three others in my age group, and I was only really close with Ino. Hinata was training to be a secretary and medic, and Tenten went on more missions than I did, so I hardly ever saw her.

Since my age group was difficult to control, we were given low-level missions and advanced training. I was a special case, and was sent on missions of a middle caliber.

But hey, I was still twelve. I would get plenty of chances to take out plenty of vamps in the future.

Naruto frowned at my attitude.

"He's got a rough history. His older brother became infected, and killed his whole family. Since Sasuke was only six, he ran away. He's been dead set on killing every infected out there, and is still after the guy who infected his brother. Apparently they never caught him."

Vampires are mysterious humans.

That sounded weird.

Let's just go with Vampires are a lot different from other hominids. They each still have their own personalities; they just become overwhelmed with the need for blood.

Some become consumed by it and feed without thinking, and those are the ones we catch first. The middle kind are like the ones who attacked my parents. They're afraid to die, but hate what they've become.

The worst kind are the ones who enjoy it. They live for the chase, and will stop at nothing to get what they want. They retain their sanity and control, and tend to form large hordes that may start smuggling humans or even blood. The vampire community itself is like a stream. It flows from one town to the next, always spreading and moving on. The town of Konoha is so large that there is always a good-sized population present. The city alone has over 50,000 people. Only maybe 5,000 at a time may be infected, but to us, that's 5,000 to many.

So we deal with the never ending curing and inoculating. We can only hope that it's doing some good.

"Wow. So he's in our class?" he nodded. "When's he getting here?"

"Today I think." We looked up as a voice came over the loudspeaker.

"Will all members of Class 7 report to the debriefing room? There is an emergency meeting that will start immediately." Naruto and I looked at each other, and we dashed out into the hall, gone in an instant.

--

The debriefing room is basically Tsunade's office, just given a fancy title to make it seem more important. It was round, with large windows and lots of artificial lights for when it was dark out. Right now, sun streamed in onto Tsunade, making her glow golden. Her frown was back on, and deeper than usual.

Beside her was a boy around my age, maybe a little shorter than me. He was extremely pale, more so than me, and had very dark hair. His nose was long and skinny, and his mouth was thin and stern. He was standing awkwardly, with stiff shoulders, and fists tightly clenched. He looked up through his hair, and I saw his eyes were so dark with anger that I almost took a step back.

Almost.

He was so angry, and not at anyone here, just angry in general. He was so filled with hate for the world that I could almost see it under his skin, like an ugly bruise that wasn't going to go away. He glared at me, and Tsunade stood up and introduced him. He glared at me, and Tsunade stood up and introduced him.

Naruto had been right, he did have a hard life. He had spent the rest of his childhood in another local chapter of the Organization, in the town of Sound. Sound was a lot tougher than we were, and tended to teach things that weren't always ethical in the eyes of Konoha.

They thought that once a person became infected, they weren't a person anymore. And we didn't believe that, so we cured, not killed. At least we try to. After a certain period of time, about a year, the miracle cure didn't work anymore. We had to kill them then.

"Sasuke, Sakura will be the one to get you settled." She leaned down and whispered into his ear. He looked at her sharply before giving me an appraising glance. He scowled again and followed me to Class 7's corridor.

"The hag said you're the best in our class. Is that true?" he spoke for the first time, and I almost jumped. Almost.

"I guess I am. Konoha's branch is small, so there aren't many people to compare myself to." I looked back at him, and he was frowning again.

"Why is your hair pink?" he shot at me suddenly, and this time I whirled around with my hands on my hips.

"Can you stop talking? You're annoying. My hair's pink because my father's hair was pink. Duh. If you want to try your skills against me, sign us up for a training room later this week, I don't mind. After all," I smirked at him. "I am the best."

His scowl deepened.

"Hn."

"Fine. Whatever. This is the mess, and across the hall is the communal bathroom. We have hot springs, but not very many, so both sexes have to share." I gestured to both rooms and kept walking. He didn't say another word.

---

Two weeks after Sasuke was transferred here, Naruto and I were sent on a mission with him to cure a small horde of three infected. There were proving to be less than cooperating with us however, and I could see Sasuke shaking to kill them all.

"Bitch!" I flinched at the hateful word. I quickly threw the needle into the vampire's arm and held him down. I pushed the plunger in, and he went limp underneath me. Naruto was subduing his captive in the same manner I did, but Sasuke was pinning his to the wall with the edge of a kunai, and the young woman he was supposed to administer the cure to was slowly suffocating.

"Sasuke! Stop it!! Give her the cure, now! She doesn't to deserve to die!" He ignored me.

I rushed over and forced him out of the way. I injected the needle in one swift motion, and pressed by booted foot unto Sasuke's chest.

"Bastard! When I give you an order, you obey! I was assigned team leader, and you're supposed to listen to me. You never kill someone that's more than easy to save. I don't know what they taught you at Sound, but just because they're infected doesn't mean that a person isn't human anymore! Think, stupid head!"

He spat up at me, and it took all my self control to not kill him where he…er, laid.

I hate Sasuke Uchiha more than life itself.


	3. Chapter 3

Some things never change. You can go years without seeing the guy you liked when you were thirteen, and still love him with the same blush inducing intensity when you meet him again in high school. Although I've never been to high school, I hear it's a fun experience. At least you don't have to learn how to kill people.

It makes me wonder why I chose this life.

Oh yeah.

My parents were fucking eaten.

Isn't life grand?

---

Seven years after Sasuke's transfer (a.k.a, Sakura's nineteen).

---

My alarm went off. It was six-o-clock in the morning, the sun just starting to rise.

I sprung up without a thought and scurried into the shower, bumbling and fumbling with my change of clothes and my towel. I was a morning person by nature; I could get up at three in the morning and be right as rain by three thirty as long as I got in a shower before doing something that required brain function.

Thank goodness I don't have to wear glasses. It would be horrible to stumble around and be half blind at the same time. I turned on a little cold and all of the hot before stepping in. Halfway through rinsing out my shampoo, I turned off the last of the cold and let out a sigh. I got out quickly, and spent the next ten minutes drying off, doing my hair and putting on deodorant (scentless so that the infected can't smell me) and was in the debriefing room by six thirty.

"Sakura. How are you?" It was Tsunade. How is it she's always here? Her quarters are on the other side of the base!

After Sasuke transferred in, we decided that the crumbling training rooms and leaky living quarters needed a bit revamping (pardoning the pun. revamping, get it?) and we completely rebuilt the base in another part of the city.

Our main entrance was located under a local park, and hidden of an abandoned walking trail. So with out new shiny rooms and new shiny weapons we started hitting the vamps harder than ever.

And they started hitting us back. Only this time they didn't go after a single scientist making a cure (like my father), oh no. They went after our headquarters.

But, the thing is....vampires aren't very smart. They retain moderate human intelligence, but tend to overlook things, and we can be very inconspicuous (hell, we're practically ninjas, the way we operate). We slaughtered them the second they went into our park.

Well, we only slaughtered some. The rest we saved.

Kind of.

We kept some advanced cases in out lab for study, to work on making a more advanced cure based upon my father's research.

It didn't really end to well, at least for them. After we had the information and had done the research we needed, we cured them and let them go.

After their apparent defeat, the larger hordes hung low, sticking to small smuggling rings, trying to keep under the radar.

---

Between the ages of twelve and eighteen, I went on nine A-rank missions, 12 B-rank missions and 16 C-rank missions. All of my A-rank missions lasted longer than a week, and the B-rank ones lasted longer than two days each.

Sasuke Uchiha. That little bitch.

After that first mission I served with him, you would've thought he would have learned.

No.

He only learned how to get on my bad side.

When you get on my bad side, you don't get off until you can admit that you did something to piss on my morals (well, the one's I have left anyway).

Me? Bitter? No…….

Anyway, Naruto and him became all buddy-buddy for some reason (Is it male bonding? The whole beat each other up once and your friends for life? Is that how it works?), and there-for I had to see his smug thin-lipped face every fucking day.

It sucked.

Actually he's not all that thin-lipped. He's pretty good looking. He's got great eye-lashes. Their super long, and his eyes! Gah, why can't I get eyes like his? They're midnight blue-gray, so dark they're almost black…and…why am I talking about him?!?!

Well, I had been hoping my first S-rank mission would be better than eating dog shit, but I was wrong.

I've been partnered with Sasuke Uchiha. We get to infiltrate a horde that are human smugglers, and apparently, we get to test out a drug that gives you most of the symptoms of being infected, only no blood-lust.

We get to become undercover vamps.

Life is so good to me. Wow. I wonder which deity I pissed off in my past life.

---

Day of the mission

---

I was getting ready in my quarters. I took the first of my soon to be daily injections, and I could almost feel myself changing. The lights were becoming brighter; everything seemed almost surreal, like life was broadcasted in HD, only better. I could count the threads in the blanket on my bed; almost smell the cow whose skin was made into my leather jacket. I could discern the different colors used to make my jeans such a faded blue.

It was freaky; I was becoming everything I had helped to destroy. I only hoped that the real infected wouldn't be able to tell the difference. Plus, I had to learn hoe to act like a blood thirsty monster.

It shouldn't be too hard. I mostly am one after all.

---

I met Sasuke on my way to Tsunade's office. He didn't look remotely happy, and kept twitching in the flickering fluorescent lights. They were quite annoying, but I could see the spectrum of the rainbow splayed across the white walls by them. We walked to her office together, both in civilian clothes.

It turns out we both have pretty decent fashion sense. He was in a long-sleeved skin-tight Abercrombie t-shirt with a pair of baggy washed out jeans and a pair of scuffed up sneakers. I was wearing my leather jacket, my faded boot cut jeans (with boots for once), and a dark green sleeveless halter top. Personally I don't know the brands, and I fortunately don't really give a shit.

We strode into her office, both of us more than a little cranky and full of nervous energy. She looked up from her mug of tea, papers clutched in her other hand, glasses balance precariously on her nose.

Her frown sunk deeper into her face, both of her carefully plucked eyebrows knitting together. She's got to use wrinkle cream or something, she's at least forty-five.

"Oh, good. Both of you are on time. I take it both of you took the injection?" As she started explaining the details of the mission, I relaxed and paid careful attention. Mistakes on an S-rank can get you killed. Almost anyone who worked here could tell you that.

Out of every five personnel sent on a mission of this caliber, only three came back. Only two out of five survive S-rank.

That means there's a very good chance Sasuke or I may not make it back to base in two weeks.

If it comes down to which one of us has to die, I sincerely hope it's him. There's no way in heaven or hell that I'm sticking my warm blood and neck out for a bitch like him.


	4. Chapter 4

Hey all, since summer's started officially (for me anyway) I'll try to be updating more frequently. I had to take these tests so that I could graduate (even though I'll only be a junior next year) and I only got Accelerated on the writing portion.

By ONE point.

I got Advanced on the rest of them.

The best you can get is Advanced, and then it goes Accelerated, Proficient, Basic, and then Limited. I'm so mad.

You know what would make me feel better? Give me some reviews that say I'm such a wonderful writer, and maybe I'll keep updating almost frequently.

Love you all. But I want some freaking reviews.

---

Life, well, living in general, can make everything seem so much better. Take sunlight for instance. It's a simple pleasure, like getting a tan or skin cancer or whatever, but you don't enjoy it fully until you've lived the past seven years going out only at night.

Feeling the sun on my skin, especially in my current sense-heightened state, was something akin to ecstasy, and came dangerously close to letting a moan come out of my mouth as I rolled up my sleeves to feel more.

Sasuke just kept twitching while I stretched in the sun, almost feeling his muscles vibrating from a few feet away. He probably hasn't relaxed in thirteen years. I shook my head and started following the tree-lined path towards the road, the carefully concealed entrance all but forgotten. I heard him moving behind me, each step, and each sound from his hand fingering the pockets on his jeans. I could hear his hair brushing his cheek.

It was seriously freaking me out. Could he hear everything I heard? I took a deep breath to calm my thoughts, and almost reeled backwards from the scents that flooded me. I was thankfully wearing sunglasses, but the smells. I could smell damp leaves, the mold growing on them, and the worms living underneath them. I could _feel_ the trees growing, breathing and moving together. I felt as if the whole world was about to rip itself from underneath me.

I staggered back, Sasuke's hands grabbing my arms, and even through my jacket's insulated leather, he was so _warm_. I heard him breath in, a shaky, nervous, tense breath. He was really rattled by this too. Actually, knowing I wasn't the only one freaked out by this experience made me calmer. I didn't trip up until we got to out crappy hotel on the other side of town.

---

"What do you mean no more rooms?! We had a reservation!" I glared down the bored looking blond woman, who didn't seem to notice I was trying to stab her with my will power alone. She cracked her gum and kept staring at Sasuke like he was life force. He's not _that_ amazing.

"Wha—Oh, sorry Hun. We got paid very generously by some very nice men for several extra rooms during their stay, and all we have left is a single room." I prayed to anyone that would listen.

"Does it have two beds?" She looked at me like I was crazy.

"Nope, sorry. Is a smoking room alright? It is the last room" I sighed.

"Fine, but I expect a refund for everything. We had two rooms booked, and we paid in advance—" She was pointing at a sign above her head. No refunds. Great.

I growled, sent the woman a withering look, and snatched the keys form her clammy hand. I stormed up the stairs, but reduced my storming to huffing up them after the noise I made made me feel like I was standing in a stampede of elephants. Sasuke was right behind me the whole time, and I could feel him smirking the whole time.

As soon as we got in the room, I was appalled at the lack of both taste and hygiene. I was also dismayed at the bed, which was both stained and small enough that, if Sasuke and I shared it, we would always be touching.

"I call the floor." I said. Sasuke gave me a weird look, and grudgingly took the bed. It was REALLY disgusting looking, and after the pristine cleanliness of my own room, I didn't even want to know left those stains on the sheets. Ew.

The sun was still high in the sky, and since the vamps were bound to stay hidden until nightfall, I thought a bit of shopping would be nice. Our room did have a mini-fridge after all.

"Sasuke, do you want to go grocery shopping with me?" he glanced at me from the bed, he had spread-eagled across it, and his head was hanging off the side.

"I didn't know vampires ate food, along with the blood." I started picking out a cute shopping outfit.

"Of course they do, but not vegetables or fruits. They like eggs, rare meat and dairy products. Anything from an animal. Like spam. They love spam." He smirked at me.

"Who doesn't love spam?"

"I know, right?! It's absolutely amazing in every single way. It's salty..."

"That's a bonus."

"…and high in protein, plus. No one else on base likes it. They think it's gross for some reason…"

We were standing face to face, and delighting in our mutual love for meat by-product.

How weird can life get?

---

The markets by the docks were full of buyers and sellers. I bought a couple of low-grade steaks, a dozen eggs and some miscellaneous chicken bits, a whole chain of sausage, and some chocolate. A girl has to have chocolate with her everywhere.

Sasuke bought tomatoes. He had finished eating the whole pound by the time the sun was setting, and we were safely back in our hotel room with the windows barred and the door locked.

"How can you eat those things like apples?" I asked him as I started filling syringes with serum.

"They're delicious. That's how." I frowned at him.

"I think tomatoes are kind of gross. I don't like salads at all, and I don't like ketchup—"

"You don't like ketchup?! Are you human?" He had stood up, and was heading for the shower. He paused and turned back at me for a second.

"No, I'm an alien. Yes, I'm human. Both my parents are human."  
"Really? Cause I've never seen them on the base. "

It felt like time froze. I hadn't talked about my parents to anyone in a long time. He saw the look on my face and paled. He didn't say anything else, but he went in the bathroom and started banging his head against the shower wall as the water ran.

Kana. I miss you so much.


	5. Chapter 5

I hadn't moved much. I went from standing with a look of shock on my face to lying down on my sleeping bag without blinking very often.

I couldn't cry. It had been too long, too hard, and too damn fucked up to think about or cry over since they died, and I refused to lose control around someone I was starting to consider a friend.

I think back on a couple of years ago, and I realize that Sasuke still hadn't had time to adjust to Konoha's lax rules and policy on saving, not slaying. I guess, that whole I had been too bus fuming over his attitude, I hadn't noticed how he softened, relaxed, and opened up a little bit.

I only hoped I had done the same.

---

He came out of the shower dressed and his hair was damp. He was looking a little paler than usual. I think it might have been the tomatoes. He sat on the bed, and for a minutes, there was a tense silence between us. I was trying not to blurt out how I felt, to not tell him the whole story, and he was trying not to ask.

Thankfully, I looked out the window at the navy sky, stars twinkling to life as street lamps came on with individual hums that my newly heightened sense could hear. I dashed to the shower with a change of clothes, with a hurried "We're leaving soon!"

I thought I heard him curse as the bathroom door snapped shut.

---

I brushed my hair out and applied mousse to my ringlets. My hair was so curly, it almost had a mind of its own. I put on some mascara on top of the eyeliner I was already wearing. A pale pink lipstick finished my face, since I decided to forego face powder.

I slipped out of my jeans and shirt. I reapplied some more deodorant, you can't be too careful, and slipped on a yellow halter dress. It had a modest neckline, but was tight across my knees, chest, and hips, giving me the illusion I had more curves than I really did. I slipped some floppy no-nonsense sandals on my feet and checked my reflection. My bra was adjustable, so I just removed the straps.

I stepped back out into the room, where Sasuke was lining up syringes inside his jacket. He was wearing almost too big jeans that were held on by a belt, with a pair of scuffed up black sneakers. His shirt was red, making his skin look a pink-tinged pale that contrasted warmly with his hair. He looked up and stared at me for a few seconds. I couldn't even tell you what he was thinking. Boys are so beyond my skill level.

I slipped a holster unto my thigh, several more needles went down the front of my dress, and we were out of the hotel by the time the sunlight had completely faded from the sky.

---

We were headed to a club a couple blocks from our hotel that was always swarming with both sleazy humans and vampires starved for blood. It was half night club and bar, but it had a fancy restaurant attached to it, and that's where we headed.

The dimness of the lights made me feel more relaxed, but the vampire injection was making me more paranoid than usual, and every person, infected or otherwise, walking by was humming and filled to the brim with life and it was going to drive me mad.

I didn't want blood. The serum, which Tsunade had dubbed VE1, gave every symptom except for the blood craving. My heightened awareness had calmed over the past couple of hours, or maybe I had just gotten used to it, but I could hear the heart beat of every living thing in the room. Next door, the pounding music was too loud from even here, and I could smell sweat, sex, blood and urine wafting from the bathrooms and dance floor. I almost gagged, but I was in public, and managed to pass it off as a hiccup.

We were seated close to the club, and another waft of human made me choke as I sipped my water. Sasuke gave me a wierd look, but I smiled back prettily, playing my role of an average club go-er. We were trying to not act like vampires, which would hopefully give real vampires the impression of what we "really were".

Suddenly, Sasuke stiffened, and I did too when I caught the scent.

Vampires were near.

And we could smell them, their scent like an overpowering perfume in a small room. I spotted them.

Two males, one female.

The female's hair was a lurid red, and shiny, glistening like blood in the dim lights. The shorter male's hair was bleached to a dull sheen, almost blue in the semi-darkness, and from across the room, he looked like he was not a person to mess with. The tall one, more like a giant, with huge slab-like shoulders, looked almost sad. I couldn't discern a haircolor in the lamplight, but his size alone could identify him easily.

Sasuke whispered to me as quietly as he could without moving his lips.

"They're from Sound" he said, not looking at me.

I pretended to read my menu and pointed at the seafood entrees.

"Really? I wouldn't have guessed by the way they smell." I wrinkled my nose polietly, and took another sip of water. I was hungry.

"I worked very closely on a mission with them after I tranfered here. I was hoping to get a chance to find the vamp who infected..anyway, they _were_ part of Sound. Orochimaru-sama was overthrown not very long ago, but he wasn't killed, and alot of people were loyal to him." I nodded my head polietly and pointed at something on his menu.

"I hadn't heard about that. Do you think they could be using VE1 too, as a lure?" I murmered.

"That possibility has entered my mind, but if they are really infected, we should do something about it." I glared at him discreetly, pretending to pout. I noticed the blue-haired males eyes on me. I had to keep acting.

"We shouldn't stray form the mission. I'm hoping to get this done quickly, and at least not get ourselves killed. We have to infiltrate a very powerful and dangerous horde Sasuke. We can't deviate from the plans. We need to form contacts and visit the actual warehouses before we can call in the ANBU corps. This is top priority."

He sighed.

"I understand that Sakura but..." I grabbed his hand. All three of them were watching us now.

"Sasuke-kun! I want to dance, can't we order now?!" I said loudly and obnoxiously.

He almost looked over to where they stood, but picked up his menu at the last moment. The waiter came, and both of us ordered the filet mignon, rare.

"What are their names?" I asked him.

"Karin's the girl. Suigetsu's the blue haired one, and yes, he dyes it. Juugo...has some emotional problems. He's perfectly sane most of the time, but the tiniest things can set him off...he's killed so many people on accident, and he hates it." I frowned in pity.

"Would they take the risk to defect from the Organization?"

He looked me straight in the eye, and the darkeness in his own sent a chill down my spine and caused warmth to stir in my belly.

"I don't know." I realized after we got our food, that he still hadn't let go of my hand.


	6. Chapter 6

This is going to be my last update for a while. I'm off to Iowa for a mission trip with my church friends, and I'll be gone for about nine days. We're going by bus. I pray I won't lose a thumb to my horrible carpentry skills.

Lol. Anyway, don't kill me. This chapter's a bit of filler, but it should keep you sated for awhile.

Love you guys! Keep up the reviewing Sil-vous-plait.

Merci Beaucoup!

I stared at it. His hand was big, warm, and comfortingly strong against my own. He glanced down, and hastily pulled his under the table. Sasuke didn't look at e while we ate, and for a few minutes, the tense atmosphere from our first mission together hung heavy over our heads, heavy with the weight of regret.

"Sasuke-kun!" the girl, Karin, had been seated a few tables away with her teammates, and had just pretended to notice us. She smiled a pretty, perfectly adorable smile. It made me hate her. She was too simpering for her own good. Sasuke looked up as she started walking over, the blue-haired one—Suigetsu was it?—following suit.

"Hi Karin, Suigetsu." Sasuke gave each of them a polite nod of the head and an almost-smile. Karin beamed at him, and Suigetsu smirked at me. The smell of their…vampire-ness was overpowering. Did we smell like that?

"Hey….Sasuke-chan...Who's your pretty friend?" I pretended to blush out of modesty, but inside I was furious. It was these types of men that I hated the most. God's gift to women.

Sasuke would never be like that. I held out a hand for him to shake. He held it longer than was safe, and squeezed just a bit too tight. I giggled to cover my discomfort, pulling my hand back into my lap.

"My name is Sakura." I stated blandly with a polite smile. He leered closely and inhaled silently. I leaned towards the wall. I felt cornered.

"Sasuke, I never figured you'd go vamp after all the fuss you used to make about your bro—"Sasuke cut Suigetsu off.

"Lets just say my short time at Konoha changed my philosophy a little. What better way to find your enemy, than to become one?" His face was carefully blank. Suigetsu's Predatory smile widened. He leaned down close to his ear, and whispered.

"I think you're lying. But for now, I'll let you go. Let's see how far you can take this. Don't worry, I won't tell the heads of the hordes, but you can bet that Orochimaru-sama will _definitely_ love to find out what you're up to." He pushed himself off of Sasuke's shoulder, and motioned for Karin and Juugo to follow him. They went into the club through a pair of swinging metal doors, and were gone.

I sighed and collapsed against the table. Sasuke was shaking, his fists clenched. For a second I thought he was angry, and then I looked at his face. He was pale, eyes wide. He looked absolutely terrified.

"I thought Orochimaru was dead?' I asked him.

He looked at me, gaining some control over his emotions.

"He is."

---

We left soon after, paying our bill. We still had two more weeks to find the warehouses, and tonight's encounters had left us shaken and a little scared. We went back to our hotel the roundabout way to shake off any pursuers.

When we reached the room, Sasuke smoothed out the sheets of the bed, unrolled his sleeping bag on top of it, and got in.

"Hey, if you're going to do that, scoot over so I can too. I only took a nap on that floor and my back already hurts." He looked up from his pillow, where I was standing with my hands on my hips.

What was the point in taking the bed if you weren't even going to use it?

He moved over to another side of the bed, still cocooned in his bag, and I laid mine down next to him. First I went to the bathroom and brushed my teeth and changed into a pair of soft shorts and a tank top, leaving my dress on the bathroom floor. I slipped in beside Sasuke, and fell asleep in ten minutes.

---

When I woke up, the room was still dark. It wasn't s dark as before, the sun was just starting to rise and every bone and muscle in my body was screaming at me for more sleep, but I wanted to check something.

I slid off the bed, and went to the curtains facing the east. I slid them open barely an inch and slid my hand into the beam.

Pain of an intensity I had never encountered before brought me to my knees, and I screamed. It really was a horrible sound for Sasuke to wake up to, but oh...it hurt so much.

I felt like my nerve endings were on fire, like every broken bone I had ever had decided to re-break all at the same time.

My scream was cut off as Sasuke pulled the curtains closed. I let out several whimpers and what I tried to tell myself wasn't a sob. He kneeled down next to me, and turned my hand towards him to look at.

For the few seconds I had been in the sun, my hand had blistered, and the blisters had cracked open and had started to bleed. He pulled me to my feet and dragged me to the bathroom.

He hadn't spoken, but picked me up with almost surprising ease and set me on the counter. He wet a washcloth and carefully, tenderly pressed it against my hand. I bit my tongue to keep from screaming again.

He finally looked me in the eyes, and while he looked a little angry, he also looked a little concerned.

"What did you do?" he asked me. I felt stupid.

"I stuck my hand in sunlight for about three seconds." I said, looking away.

"Only three seconds? The VE1 must've really kicked in then." He busied himself with finding Band-Aids and some antiseptic. "That was really stupid by the way. You could've gotten hurt a lot worse if you actually stood in the sunlight. Don't do it again." I huffed.

"I was just curious as to how potent the sunlight was against us. I'm sorry for making you worry."

He didn't look at me, but he didn't deny that he was worried.


	7. Chapter 7

Since it was only six in the morning, Sasuke bandaged my hand and we both went back to sleep. I awoke once more around noon to use the restroom, and we slept until around five in the afternoon.

I scrambled to the shower, the thought of fresh clothes and lack of towel escaping my mind. I turned up the hot all the way and yelped as the heat hit my injured hand, dropping my soap. My wild curls relaxed as the water hit them, and I shampooed and conditioned and soaped up my body. I shaved and rinsed, and threw one hand against the wall in search of my towel. The towel I left on the bed.

"Sasuke!" I pitched my voice so that he would hear me.  
"What?!" he yelled back.

"Can you hand me the towel that's sitting on the bed?" I asked. A few seconds later, he walked in with the towel, a little grumpy from having been told what to do.

The shower curtain was a deep burgundy, and hard to see through, matching the rich orange-cream of the walls with a swirly blood red trim. I stuck one hand out and grabbed the towel from him.

He left, and I dried off and walked back into the room to grab my clothes. I was planning on changing in the bathroom.

When I stepped out, Sasuke was cooking the low grade steaks I bought on the stove with one burner that the room provided. He was wearing only sweatpants and a scowl of concentration. No shirt.

It was quite a sight to behold. For living around men for so long, I had very few experiences with bare chests that weren't bloody, scared or disgusting. Sasuke's chest was masculine perfection.

It was as simple as that.

My throat tickled, and I coughed. He whirled around and he looked like he almost dropped his spatula.

His expression was totally star struck. I grabbed my clothes and sprinted back to the bathroom, heart pounding. Our mission was too important to jeopardize with romantic feelings.

So, like always, my mask went back on, and I let myself act like he was nothing to me still. I had been doing it to other people I loved for years.

---

I came out dressed for the sweaty and tense atmosphere of the club we were going to tonight, and Sasuke took control of the bathroom. He came out half an hour later completely dressed, and looking wicked in an unbuttoned shirt over a band tee and black jeans just a size too big. I was wearing a skirt to mid-thigh and a loose, seventies-inspired shirt that hung off my shoulders. My hair was pinned up in an elaborate up-so with two concealed needles acting as chopsticks. My flat shoes laced up to my knees, and I thought I looked like I could catch someone's eye.

Tonight, we were looking for a head of the Akatsuki horse.

Inside, I half prayed we wouldn't find him.

---

The club was even worse now that we were inside it. The hormones wafting off of the humans were making my own blood race, and I wanted to join the crowd.

I wanted to press myself up against someone I didn't know and suck every drop of blood out of their—No! Bad thoughts! I am not a vampire!

I shook my head once to clear my head, and Sasuke grabbed my arm, motioning towards the bar. Our best bet would be the bartender. AS we avoided the heavier clusters of humans, and skirted piles of vomit, I saw a flash of long honey blonde hair. When I turned to look, a man whose face had haunted my nightmares was grinning and leaning against a wall on the opposite side of the bar. His hair was well past his shoulders, but it was the eye that caught me. The electric blue eye filled with madness and a sick pleasure from seeing me.

I didn't let him notice I had spotted him but I felt a chill run down my spine like an ice cube. I looked up at Sasuke to tell him about him, I knew that man was a vampire, but when I looked back he was gone.

I shuddered once more as we reached the bartender, a pale, red-headed man of around his mid-twenties. His frosty green eyes were blank of emotion, and the smell off of him was of a vampire.

A very old vampire, too.

Sasuke took the lead for this too; he had a little more experience in communication with these types, the types that trafficked with humans and blood, that spirited humans away to keep them in a constant pleasurable torment.

Getting fed off of is supposed to be one of the more enjoyable sensations. Insert a gag here.

Sasuke was delicately trying to insert the black market into the conversation, but with the bartender's apparent lack of emotions, I couldn't tell if he was onto us, just mildly interested, or not even interested at all.

Red's attention shifted to me, and for once I saw through him. His eyes widened in madness, and I also remembered his face. He was the one I saw—

God, oh God. No. No no no no no—

I got up from the bar and headed into the bathroom, feeling faint. I leaned against the counter, head reeling with memories I wish I could forget. Darkness, the smell of warm blood and my sister's hair pressed up against my cheek, the feeling of cold hands prying, children screaming, bloodcurdling—a single electric blue eye—

I dashed into a stall, emptying the contents of my stomach. It looked like too rare steak that had been put through a blender. Gross.

I washed my face, carefully avoiding my makeup, and dried my hand on the back of my neck. I wonder if vampires can smell fear, or even vomit?

I came back out to the bar, and Sasuke was ordering two Bloody Marys for us. I grabbed it, thankful, and took a huge gulp to steady my nerves. The shock of blood made me almost spit it back up, but…it tasted….so good.

Sasuke threw his arm around my shoulders, and I listened to the conversation.

"So, which warehouse wound my purchases be found in?" Sasuke asked Red.

"Warehouse 11A. Don't come before ten, that place can be a little nasty for the faint of heart." He replied, shooting a glance in my direction. "Who's this?"  
"Her name is Miko. She's with me."

"She has a most unusual hair color. How did you come to possess it?" he directed the question at me.

I giggled, pretending to be vapid, just another club floozy.

"It's dye, silly. I've never met anyone else with pink hair, fake or otherwise." I giggled again for good measure, twirling a curl around a finger in what I hoped was an adorable way, not a nervous habit kind of way.

I sipped more at my Bloody Mary, while Sasuke finished getting the coordinates. As it neared three in the morning, Sasuke and I joined the humans on the dance floor, keeping a tense distance between us.

More than once, he tried putting his hand on my shoulder. Twice, I evaded it. The third time, I gave in, and let his warm hand make my skin buzz comfortably. I could be cold again when I was sober.


	8. Chapter 8

Hey everyone! Sorry for the late update, I've been a little busy helping with VBS at my church and other miscellaneous activities.

I hope you guys aren't too mad at me.

This chapter's a little short, but we're leading up to the big climax next chapter!

Please review, and thanks for reading!

---

How we made it back to the hotel, I don't know, but I awoke the next day with a pounding headache and a strange feeling of hunger in the back of my throat. Sasuke had collapsed on top of his sleeping bag much in the same way I had.

He had rolled over my arm in the middle of the night, and now it was asleep, plus I couldn't help but watch his face when he was passed out next to me.

He really was beautiful, even with his skinny nose, and thin lips and dark eyebrows, and long eyelashes, and …wow. I really got it bad.

He can never know.

So I pulled my arm from under him as quietly as possible, and turned my back to him for several more hours of restless sleep.

---

I awoke again around two in the afternoon, absolutely starving. Sasuke was I the shower by the sounds of it, and I decided to lie in bed for several more minutes, staring at the walls.

Sasuke suddenly emerged from the bathroom clad in a towel, hair streaming water onto the beige carpet. He looked a little surprised to see me, and I could only watch a bead of water roll down his torso. He snatched up a pile of clothes off the bed and hurried back to the bathroom.

He had forgotten them.

I dressed out of my clubbing outfit and started frying some ground beef. It had barely started turning brown before my hunger got the best of me and I ate it steaming hot and half raw.

It wasn't as satisfying as I had hoped it would be, and was left barely sated, and half craving more.

I cracked three raw eggs into a bowl and downed them.

I needed more.

Sasuke emerged from the bathroom at that time, and I pounced, lunging for his neck as I held down his arms.

H let out a startled yell before my mouth was on his neck, trying to draw blood. When it entered my mouth—tangy, hot, and sweet—I came to my senses. I was still sitting on Sasuke, and he was lying still, not moving , looking at me with wild eyes.

"Sasuke, I think I'm in trouble." I let him stand.

---

"So am I really a vampire now? Or is the VE1 mutating?" he looked at me from the window, night had just fallen.

"I don't know Sakura. I think we should contact Tsunade."

"I think that's a good Idea. If I really am a vampire, I don't want to be one for longer than necessary." Sasuke's eyes lit up.

"Wait…what if we used you to infiltrate the warehouse tonight. Now that it's possible you're a real vampire, they might accept you easier than me. Plus you could probably act more convincing than me. You're a born actress."

"I don't know if I should take that as a complement. How long do we have until the pickup? Did you alert the ANBU? "  
"The pickup is anytime after ten. I ordered three humans. Two men and a woman. You have to keep them occupied. I ordered the ANBU in last night, and gave them the address. If one of us doesn't show, they won't come out."

"So I'm bait?!" No way in hell was I letting him use me as bait.

"Ill stay a block behind you. My brother might be there. " A thought struck me.

"What about Orochimaru? What if he's there? He's not exactly a person I want to face. He's Tsunade's level, and I can't even take down Shizune without coming out half dead. Then again, she's been an apprentice since I was born…"

"Sakura stop rambling." He grabbed my arm, comforting, not painful. "You can do it. You can take of yourself, I should know. You did kick my ass a long time ago." I smiled

"True. I did, and don't you forget it." There was a moment of silence, and with his hand on my arm, I felt reality smack me in the face. The mission was priority….Oh, screw it. "Sasuke? When all of this is over do you think you might want to...be mission partners with me?" (That's like asking someone to go steady in the organization.)

He hesitated a moment, and even as my heart started to drop, he was kissing me, and it was perfect. We separated, but his hand moved down to entwine with mine.

"Can we talk about that road when we come to it?" he asked.

"Sure thing."

---

It was 9:30, night had settled in long ago, and Sasuke and I were disinfecting syringes for use against the vampires.

"So Sasuke, do you want to tell me about what happened with your brother?" He sighed.

"Are you sure you really want to know?"

"Of course."

"Well, because my family was one of the founders of the Organization when the virus started mutating, it was tradition to become an agent. I was six, or seven I think, when I started training in Martial Arts. My brother was thirteen at the time, and already a full agent. I remember that he went on a special undercover mission. He fell in with the wrong crowd. He came back a vampire, but this was about a year before the cure was created, so no one could stop him. He killed my mother..and my father…and everyone."

"He didn't kill you, though."

"Sometimes I wish he had."

"Sasuke…."

"No, it's okay. He got away with it. He joined that awful horde. I hope he rots in Hell for what he did. For what he's done." He was shaking in fury and grief, but not a tear escaped his eyes.


	9. Chapter 9

There's not a very long list of regrets in my life. It's short, sure...but every single thing on that list is important to me.

I missed having a childhood. I regret joining the organization at such a young age. I didn't get to go to second grade, or middle school, or Prom. I didn't have a first kiss until only a few minutes ago, and despite how perfect it was, I wished I could have enjoyed it on a date with a guy from my biology class, not a co-worker.

Even if I do regret joining the Organization so early, I do not, however, regret joining it completely. I am doing good things with my life. I'm helping people, despite their unwillingness to be helped.

I also regret not giving Sasuke a real chance when we were younger. Maybe things might have turned out differently.

But…you never know. He could never have even been transferred, or we broke up when we were younger.

Meeting Sasuke is one thing I will never, ever regret.

---

Sasuke calmed down. We sat together on the bed holding hands, his warm calloused fingers stroking and entwining with mine.

"Do you want to know my story, Sasuke?" He glanced at me.

"I wasn't really sure you ever had one. No one on base ever talked about you."  
"After my first mission I was put into counseling. Tsunade ordered people not to talk about it."  
"Why?"

"When I was seven, my father was researching a cure…and he was succeeding. In the middle of the night, a horde attacked my home. I was sharing a bed with my sisters, when my mother started screaming. Several vampires burst into my room, and stole my sisters from right beside me." I felt a tear roll down my cheek, and my voice started shaking. "From downstairs I could hear my Father crying and pleading, and then he started screaming too. The vampires were draining my little sisters, so I ran out of my room. My mother was on the floor in the hall, and her blood was everywhere. I made it to the front door when my dad started making this horrible sound, and I bolted. That's when the Organization arrived. My family was already dead though." Sasuke squeezed my hand extra tight, the pain putting a damper on the tears freely streaming down my cheeks.

"Kana…Suzuki….they were five and three…they were so small. My parents…my mom, my dad…I have my dad's eyes…." Sasuke sat up and pulled me close to him. I relaxed and cried for the first time in twelve years.

---

It was ten-o-clock. We were headed to the warehouse now, the night making the city's silence eerie and just a tad strange for such a dense population. I felt like something was going to go wrong, despite Sasuke's confidence in me. After fifteen minutes of ducking through back alleys and side streets, the warehouse came into view. A lone light shone on the rusted double doors, and adrenaline started pumping in my veins, thirst aching in my throat. My mouth opened in a silent snarl. Sasuke saw, so I refocused. I couldn't smell any vampires outside, but inside were probably ten or thirteen mature vampires.

"Sasuke, do you know when the ANBU are arriving?"

"They said they'd make it by ten thirty at the latest. Relax. Our pickup order is 2314. Three humans. Don't give yourself away. Act as vampire as you want."

Joy.

Heat lightening flashed in the direction of Sound.

I approached the rusty, ominous doors and stepped inside. The lights were dim, flickering in hanging bulbs from the ceiling. Surrounding me were cages. There were a lot of humans in this room, almost too many to count. They were drugged and unconscious, leaning and lying atop one another. I walked between two of the enclosures and reached the center of the room. Crazy Red, the bartender, was there…and lurking in the background was an eye I would recognize anywhere, the man who had killed my family. He was blond, handsome, and smiling. His whole eye was a bright, electric blue, and the other was disfigured and revolting, almost concealed by his buttery blond hair.

Red smiled his crazy ass smile as I reached him. He was an ancient vampire, probably a vampire longer than I had been alive. The virus keeps them young.

"Hello little Miko. Here for a pickup?" He asked me.

I nodded. "Order 2314. Three humans."

He gave me a once over. "You smell hungry."  
"That's why we needed the Order." He laughed—a choked, sick little sound.

"Deidara, we need this lovely lady's Order…number's 23, 67, and 42." My nightmare went to fetch the Order. Now I know the name of the man I wish to kill.

Red spoke, and I almost jumped. Almost.

"We've never been properly introduced, little one. I am Sasori." I nodded my head. "How long have you been a….well, how long have you been one of us?"

I shrugged. "I'm not sure. What about you?"

"Years too many to count." Hmm…that's not vague at all. A hand was suddenly on my shoulder, and it slid down my arm and clenched around my elbow. I shivered, it was Sasuke's brother. Scary.

"Who are you?" he asked me.

"Miko. I am Miko. I have an Order pickup." He nodded, and then inhaled deeply.

"You smell like someone familiar."

"Do I?" I was starting to get nervous. He was intimidating, after all. He was a more than a head taller than me, with heavy set shoulders and arms. Sasori was intimidating in a psychotic kind of way, and Deidara was just plain intimidating. Itachi was intimidating in the scary-I'm-going-to-rip-your-face-off kind of way.

"Do you know my brother by any chance?"

"No?" oops. I made it a question.

"My Mother's name was Mikoto, did you know? Miko was my Father's pet name for her."

"I don't even know who you are!" I snarled at him, playing dumb.

"…You feign innocence pretty well; you're a born actress. However, lies are not acceptable when it comes down to business. Now…how do you know Sasuke?" his arm moved and wrapped around my neck, and lifted me off the ground. My strength was nothing compared to his brute force.

My internal clock told me that I still had five minutes before the ANBU would arrive. I might as well spill the beans, at least partially.

"I'm the one who infected Sasuke!" I choked out. Itachi's fingers loosened a little bit.

"Continue." He said.

"He's in the Organization, and was assigned to get rid of me, but he didn't know how strong I was, and I managed to weaken him by taking his blood." I smiled my strange little smile. "He tasted delicious."

"You are still lying."

Itachi dropped me. He motioned to Sasori and Deidara to take me to a cage, but I kicked Sasori on the side of his knee, making him collapse. Deidara was on me faster than humanly possible, but my own strengths were enhanced as well. I dodged a fist with a snarl, and went for his throat. He growled, low in his chest, and a shiver of fear went through me.

Then, right before my eyes, a needle sprouted from his neck. He stopped, and fell to the ground. I looked around. ANBU agents were pouring in from the only entrance and the high windows, hurrying to contain Itachi and Sasori. Itachi managed to knock out several ANBU before they immobilized them. Sasori was hysterical, laughing on the ground with handcuffs on his wrists, four ANBU struggling to keep him there. He threw one against a cage twelve feet away. He had back handed her on accident.

I went back outside to meet up with Sasuke.

He wasn't….he wasn't there.

All that was left was a blood trail….drops thick and many—still warm, still smelling like Sasuke.

I followed.

---

The outskirts of town were infamous for being dangerous, but going outside the city at night was a fool's errand. Only if you were stupid, crazy, or suicidal would you even think it. Konoha was a forested area, and the city was huge, but the forest was practically alive—always changing and shifting.

I may be crazy, but Sasuke was more important than me. So much more important.

I ran as fast as I could, not stopping for sound, sight, or screams. I followed the scent of blood, of fear.

Sasuke was panicking. I ran even faster.

---

The farther I went, the more strange I thought it. I already knew he had been taken, but taking him right from under my nose—and the Anbus' noses. It was _wrong_. It was impossible. Who…?

A thought struck me. It struck me like a brick to my brain, making me stop in my tracks, breath coming in sharp, panicked gasps. Thunder rolled in the distance; warm, moist air covering my skin like a blanket.

Orochimaru. Oh my God….My Lord, My Lord…..

I fell to my knees. How could I fight _that_?! He was barely human to begin with, and now he was just plain….vampire.

I shuddered, my neck, legs, arms, and back—my whole body—prickling with fear. A fear that clogged my brain, a fear that took my reasons away. A fear that was so encompassing that I couldn't think couldn't breath. I was the fear.

Sasuke. The thought was like a beam of light through my foggy brain. I had to save Sasuke.

I got up, and continued running.

---

I was almost to Sound when it started raining, the scent starting to wash away in the downpour, and the sound of water pelting the leaves was overwhelmingly loud.

Coming into view was a gray complex made of concrete blocks. The surrounding area was dirt—the whole thing was sterile and devoid of life, but something in the back of my head told me that there were vampires inside. The strength of one was like a sun in my mind—the three others were varicolored: a glowy, wispy red; an oceanic blue; and custard yellow. The more I looked at the sun—huge, pulsing strength—the darker it seemed to get, until it wasn't a sun anymore. It became a huge maw of a black hole, devouring the world, eating up all the good and the light.

It had to be him.

I felt harder….searching for….there! I felt Sasuke, showing in my mind like a navy blue orb, slowly fading.

I searched the outside of the complex for an entrance. I jumped unto the roof from a tree's branch, and found a vent. I climbed down, sliding over a grate or two as momentum carried me far into the building. It went down a long way, and it started to turn into more of a free fall than a slide after a bit. I grabbed onto an edge of a side vent as I fell, and climbed into it. I came to another grate after a second. I looked below me, to see a floor far away. I was in the ceiling of a huge room, a ball room maybe, with high walls and gilded floors. I removed the grate and jumped down. I landed on my feet, jarring my knees—hands splayed out to balance myself.

I looked around myself…there was nothing here. I went into the hall and wandered, trying to find them. I opened my senses, the black hole sucked me in…and I turned left. I made another left, and then turned right.

A door was in front of me, the black hole sucking me closer, draining my mind. It opened, and Suigetsu ushered me forward, gently grabbing my arms. The air seemed to shimmer, move and wrap around me. I could feel myself smiling and laughing as I was moved toward the center of the dark room, where Orochimaru was waiting for me. This very place was intoxicating. Then I looked a t Sasuke…blood everywhere on him. His eyes were blank and slowly closing.

I couldn't stop screaming.

* * *

So yeah....

I re-wrote the ending of this chapter, edited a couple of things...and hopefully it's a little better written than the first version I put up a little while ago.

Sorry if Sakura seems a little messed up toward the end, there's a reason for it.

If you like my story, reviewing would be nice. Thanks for reading though!


	10. Author's note

Hey all! Sorry I had to make this a note, but people wouldn't see it otherwise…..

Chapter nine has been rewritten (well, the ending of it).

A lot of things have changed, so I suggest re-reading it to get your bearings (and to know what's going on.)

Thanks for reading! And please review!


	11. Chapter 11

Sasuke started, his eyes widened as my screams woke him. I still felt like I was drugged, the very walls painted with blood, still fresh. Suigetsu clamped a hand over my mouth, and I bit him, my sharp teeth tearing through. He muffled a scream as I sucked his blood into my throat, giving me strength, making him weak.

He fell, blood pooling around his arm. Karin squeaked, but I ignored her. She kneeled beside him, and clutched his head to her chest. He was unconscious.

I must've looked a fright, matted hair wet with blood and rain. Orochimaru motioned to Juugo, and although I was stronger from Suigetsu's blood, the amount of blood around me made me dizzy, and my vision was swimming slightly. He picked me up like I was nothing, like I was a feather or a leaf.

Orochimaru faced me, and close up, he was grotesque—pale skin stretched over high cheek bones, and he had thin faded lips.

"Little Sakura-chan….why are you here?" he asked me.

"Sasuke is mine. I'm not leaving without him." I said.

"Well, then you shall not be leaving at all." Wow. Dramatic, much?

Juugo threw me, and I struggled to remain upright. I rushed him, wobbling every step. I hit hard, but he didn't budge.

He grabbed me again, and hit me in the back of my head, and stars burst into life behind my eyes. The pain gave me a moment of clarity, distracting me from the blood, from my fear. In a split second I was on Orochimaru, his withered body was too frail to protect himself from me, even though his mental force was almost devouring mine. He was older than old, older than time. He wanted to eat the world, and the stars, and the sun. With surprising strength he held me off, both of us snarling.

I managed to bite his arm, his dry skin cold and his blood was black and icy, and I gagged instantly. I spat his blood unto the floor, where it sizzled and froze.

"How are you alive?!" I asked him. His answer was to lunge for my face. Joy. I held him off, years of training kicking in. Hiss tongue was long, far longer than a normal human's, and it wrapped around my neck, slimy and chilled. I was choking.

How will I get out of this one? He's as big as the sun, and compared to him my existence was as fleeting as the seasons. It was going dark, and my last thoughts were for Sasuke. For not being able to save him, for turning him, for bringing him all into this and not letting him get his revenge.

Oh Lord, how I wish I had never taken this mission. Oh so many regrets….

---

I was floating in warm soft darkness, lights blinking into existence behind my closed eyelids, and a murmur of voices slide through my brain as I dreamed…

"—She's still unconscious…."

"—She better wake up soon. Stupid forehead. Making me worry."

"—Is Sasuke going to be alright?"

Sasuke? Sasuke! The thought was the first one to send me reeling towards consciousness, and soon found myself blinking in the artificial lights of the Organization's hospital. Ino was curled up in a soft-back chair in the corner, but Tsunade was standing against the wall, watching me.

"Tsunade-sama?" I croaked. She started, and was soon by my side, handing me a glass of water which I downed thirstily.

"Did you let a squirrel in here? Because my tongue's furry." She smirked slightly, before her face became serious.

"Sakura, do remember what happened?" I nodded. "Well, after you disappeared from the warehouse, a few left over ANBU followed you, and tracked you to Orochimaru's base."

She was silent for a moment. She took several deep breaths.

"They followed you to that horrible blood room you were in—there was fresh blood everywhere—and found Orochimaru starting to drain Sasuke. They had to incapacitate Juugo—he's in rehab right now—and Suigetsu and Karin are in a joint holding cell. It seems that they were planning on leaving the scene. Sasuke….he still hasn't woken up. We gave him the cure and several blood transfusions. And Sakura…how did you get turned?"

I was quiet for a moment. How could I answer that? 'Oh! Your temporary vampire serum must've reacted badly to me and I turned into a real vampire and bit Sasuke?' Like, no. That's just not gonna happen.

So I looked away.

"I want to see Sasuke. And Naruto and Hinata and everyone. I miss everyone."

Either Tsunade ignored my change of subject, or she didn't notice.

I hoped to dear God it was the latter, as Ino slowly awoke. She blinked several times before she noticed me staring at her.

"Forehead! You're awake!" She ran and hugged me while I grinned. She slapped my arm. Hard. "Stupid! Did you know how worried I was about you?! I thought you were going to die! You came back covered in blood, unconscious, and you had fangs for goodness sakes! What happened to you!"

"Don't take an S-rank, whatever you do." I joked weakly. I still hurt. I still missed Sasuke.

"Can I see him?" she looked at me blankly.

"Who? Sasuke? Why'd you wanna see him?"

"We're kind of…dating? I'm not sure…what we are…but, we're something. Definitely."

She gave me a look of surprise.

"Wow. I thought you were born without hormones. I didn't think you'd land him of all people. Though you are pretty, you just need to lighten up when you're not on missions."

"Thanks Ino, you're so understanding." Haha, sarcasm.

"Oh, you know you love me. Do you think you can walk?"

I wiggled my legs experimentally.

"I may need to lean on you. How long was I out for?" She helped me up, blonde hair landing on my head, as she was almost six inches taller than me, and her high heeled boots didn't help.

"About three days." She replied as my legs threatened to crumble beneath me, and I rested my weight on her as much as I could as we hobbled down the hall to his room.

He was asleep; the only noise was from the breathing tube in his neck and his heart rate machine beeping every couple of seconds. I sat at his side, and held his hand, face pressed into it. He was cold, and it was all my fault.

Tears sprang to my eyes, and I wiped them away with his arm, and soon fell asleep beside him, guilt ridden and ashamed.

---

I was nudged awake by a nurse asking me to return to my room. I carefully made my way back and fell into a restless sleep for several more hours. I awoke to dim lights, and an almost pensive Naruto sitting at my bedside. His glasses-wearing face was ruined by the tongue sticking thoughtfully out of his mouth as he read.

"Naruto?" I said. He perked instantly.

"Sakura-chan! Do you want anything?" he asked.

"No." I shook my head.

"How are you feeling?" he asked me.

"I'm fine. A little weak, but I supposed that's to be expected. How was your week?"

"I love how you're so nonchalant about all of this. You were found in a cave of literal evil, and you want to know about my week. Wow."

I gave him a look.

"Fine, fine! I asked Hinata on a date."

"…and?"

"She's going out with Kiba, but it doesn't look to serious. I saw him flirting with a nurse the other day." He tensed, and even as I felt sorry for him, I felt sorrier for Kiba. Naruto cracked his knuckles threateningly.

"Oh. I'm kinda-maybe going out with Sasuke? I'm still not sure what we are." He nodded sympathetically.

"He's still out, isn't he?"

"Yeah." I sighed.

There was a pause, questions hanging in the air.

"Will…will you tell me what happened on the mission?"

"I suppose….It started pretty normally. We had to share a hotel room. We got to talking. We liked the same things, I thought about our past encounters and over analyzed things as usual. He made the first move, though I suppose he made the only one cause he was abducted after I turned into a vampire, and I had to rescue him. I didn't even do it properly. The frickin' ANBU had to help me. Save me. Whatever. It just sucked."

"Sakura."

"What, Naruto, can't you let me wallow?"

"Don't you ever pay attention." That didn't sound like Naruto.

Sasuke stood there, paler, thinner, but there, and apparently he didn't care that I couldn't save him.

"How come you don't hate me? I didn't finish anything." I almost felt tears, my throat a little raw; my voice came out a little bit too high.

He smiled, a Sasuke almost smile that was just for me, and I crawled from my bed. He kissed me then. He kissed me soft and sweet and I knew he meant it.

"I'm just glad Orochimaru didn't kill you." He said when we separated. "He's killed others for a lot less. I…trained…under him when I was younger. Right before I came to you guys. He was really twisted, but I was eleven, and foolish, and I wanted to get what I wanted, and I didn't notice. I think he's been a vampire for longer than anyone."

I nodded and held him closer. I was so relieved.

"I missed you so much Sasuke."

"I know."

I smiled, and then smacked him.

Welcome home.


End file.
